What electronic Japanese dictionaries do you guys use? I got the Wordtank V80 from Canon. It's pretty expensive, and I was disappointed when I discovered that it is very difficult to look up a kanji word if you do not know the pronunciation. With my previous Wordtank (forgot the number), once you look up a kanji you can disaply all (many, at least) words that begin with that kanji. On the V80 it only displays unusual words. Since the product is intended for Japanese people, it assumes that the user would look up a Japanese word using hiragana instead of kanji.

As I said in a previous thread, I use several softwares on my Palm Pilot to study japanese. PAdict is a wonderful suite, including dictionary, japanese input recognition (you can draw hiraganas/katakanas/kanjis), kanji dictionary (# of strokes, on/kun readings, stroke order diagram, etc.), multi-radical kanji searches, a simple (and constantly improving) trainer, and maybe even more that I'm not remembering at this time of the night.

Oh, and one of the best features: it's free! (as both in beer and speech)

Not exactly a dictionary, but I use JWPce. It's a free word processor with built-in dictionary and several kanji lookup tools.

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html

I forgot: on the PC, I sometimes use Kanji Browze, a freeware that uses KanjiDic and Edict files. The pro version have better features and can be used together with a flashcard software from the same company, but I never tried it...

Padict is a great piece of software, you also have the heisig flashcard software running on palm. Only complain I had is that it was too slow, but that's definitly to do with my old palm (m505 ! works fine for the heisig programm through, and a used palm can be found for cheap)

I also just bought an WM5 pocket pc (acer n311) and I have the japanese IME working on it (work great !!), however I don't have a good dictionnary yet... JWPCE works but isn't optimized for VGA screen so it is quite unpractical to use. Any suggestion ?

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server is awesome (though it's strictly on-line) check it out: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1C
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1B
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1B

All of these are for the same website but I have them bookmarked in my BM bar for quick reference.

I user Wakan
http://wakan.manga.cz

I find it quick to use as a Heisigite because I can look up kanjis using their definitions. Its based off EDICT and free.

I also had a Wordtank V80 for about a week before a chubby friend stomped it out of existence... additionally, that was a long time ago and I didn't know much Japanese at the time so I can't even say if I thought it was good or not or if there is a nice solution to your problem.

For the past few years I've held on to a little Sharp PW-M800. It's so-so, does all I need. As far as the kanji lookup goes, it offers four lookup methods that can be combined for faster searches: 部品読み、音訓、部首面数、総面数 . I think you were referring to the 部品読み where you can enter the readings for the different parts, like you could write みず and き and a little searching to find 様 in the list. But searching by any of those individual terms will not be so effective, combining them produces quick efficient searches that I can't complain about; I think that is the standard kanji lookup method for most dictionaries.

Additionally, and I also think this is standard, you can highlight any kanji and jump to its kanji page. On the kanji page, there is a tab that lists the combinations of that kanji that appear in the 広辞苑 (does yours have 広辞苑 or possibly 三省堂？) and so you can jump that way. Like you see 参照 but you can't remember the reading, but you know 参考 so you punch that in, jump on the 参, and then scan the list of combinations for 参照. Again probably pretty standard.

For everyone using the software and palmpilot based systems, and anyone thinking it would be easier with direct pen input, I can assure that while these methods may seem tricky at first and they definitely require some up-front kanji knowledge, the result is much faster and easier to use kanji search.

And for the record, my 電子辞書 is light-weight and everything and good long battery life, but maybe the wordtank is better. Really, though, in the end I think getting the cheapest of the real ones is the best bet; anything with either the 広辞苑 or the 三省堂 and provides a kanji search feature is all any lower-intermediate to upper-advanced Japanese language learner needs, so just go cheap and you're fine. For those times that you need to look up more advanced words, use the eijiro at http://www.alc.co.jp/index.html

Hope that helps,

the_marshal Wrote:Padict is a great piece of software, you also have the heisig flashcard software running on palm. Only complain I had is that it was too slow, but that's definitly to do with my old palm (m505 ! works fine for the heisig programm through, and a used palm can be found for cheap)

Yeah, PADict is fantastic. In my first year I used Dokusha - that was good aswell, had alot of dictionaries and a flashcard program built in which was cool. But with PADict, I can't get over how awesome those Stroke Order Diagrams are, I could watch them for hours! What Heisig flashcard program is there for the palm? I used King Kanji for awhile with the Heisig card set selected, but they just programed in the order of the heisig kanji, but you still get ALL of the meanings for the Kanji and the readings, etc, which is not what I want, I want just the Heisig keyword. I would be interested in looking at the program you're talking about though.

Thanks!

The PAdict SOD are actually based on some free library. The official RTK program also use them, and there is a modificated version of JWPCE (for windows) with those SOD too.

BTW, I have used kingkanji before and the included flashcard for RTK didn't suit me either... so I did a new one with just the keyword. I've posted the file on the remembering the kanji yahoo group. I used the data from a excel file that was posted there unfortunaly there are some error in the keyword (mostly spelling mistake).

Anyway I just recommand you get the official RTK program, it has all the corect meaning and the SOD just like in PAdict. It only cover the first book.
Here is the link: http://www.kanjigym.de/

the_marshal Wrote:The PAdict SOD are actually based on some free library. The official RTK program also use them, and there is a modificated version of JWPCE (for windows) with those SOD too.

BTW, I have used kingkanji before and the included flashcard for RTK didn't suit me either... so I did a new one with just the keyword. I've posted the file on the remembering the kanji yahoo group. I used the data from a excel file that was posted there unfortunaly there are some error in the keyword (mostly spelling mistake).

Anyway I just recommand you get the official RTK program, it has all the corect meaning and the SOD just like in PAdict. It only cover the first book.
Here is the link: http://www.kanjigym.de/

Thanks Marshal! You're right about that SOD data being free, hopefully more programs use it in the future - before I found PADict I was using this site called kanjicafe.com to manage my vocab lists, they've made their own SOD's and have some cool features, but I decided to use JFC for everything after I got it working in Linux. I have seen that Kanji Gym software before, I installed the java version once - I didn't realise there was a Palm version - thanks alot for the link!

On this topic, which palm pilots would you guys recomend to buy to use for Japanese study (and dictionary use)?

Preferably cheap ones!

and if you get a really cheap one without much storage space, is the slowdown bad if you use memmory expansion to store fonts and things (like from PAdict)?

Would a completely differrent route such as buying a nintendo DS be a good choice? (though Im leaning away from this due to cost and lack of customisability)

norgus Wrote:On this topic, which palm pilots would you guys recomend to buy to use for Japanese study (and dictionary use)?

Preferably cheap ones!

How much is cheap for you?

If I would buy a Palm today, I'd go for the Palm T|X... the "more bang-for-the-buck" device that I have ever seen! But if you want something really cheap, you can use any "old" Palm with 8Mb of RAM (Palm IIIxe, Zire 21, ...) to use PAdict and a few other applications. Here's what I carry on my Zire 21:

- PAdict (4.6Mb)
- English<->Portuguese dictionary (1Mb)
- a copy of some pages of this site (Reviewing the Kanji, about 500Kb)
- Plua (programming language, about 250kb)
- some texts about japanese grammar, one or two e-books and a few other utilities and applications

As you can see, there's no room for games or other memory hungry applications. On the other hand, I don't get worried when I bring my cheap Palm to the beach or other places where electronics in general can be in danger. And what's more important to me above all: the battery life is great! More than 4 days for the Zire 21 (internal rechargeable battery), and more than 30 days for the Palm IIIxe (AAA bateries).

Thanks for the informative reply. One thing I was worried about with the cheaper palms is if the 160x160 screen makes viewing the dictionary much less pleasureably.

You confirmed my fears that memmory would be lacking though.

I might get the T|X as I found it on ebuyer for about half the price everyone else sells it and the screen res and storage space put my mind to rest somewhat. (wifi is a very nice bonus too)

I guess there really are no in between palm's though, they all seem to either be lacking in memmory and resolution, or have tons more features than I need.

I recently got a job so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it being a little more expensive than I wanted (over ?100)

I use a secondhand HP Journada 720, which I got for about ?90. I bought it especially for running JPWce, which I find indispensable on both PC and palmtop.

I recently added the Pocket PC version of Supermemo and and after many difficulties, managed to import the RTK1 kanji and meanings for review purposes. Frankly the result is clunky compared to this site, but works in a similar way, except it doesn't have the brilliant "study" facility that we have here. Still, as it's portable it gives opportunity for study on the move (I don't have a laptop and don't fancy dragging one around either).

Take a look at this Norgus: http://www.peterrivard.com/Pages/SuperDictionary.html

I used to have a 8M Palm IIIv a couple of years ago, but I only ran Dokusya on that. The battery life was amazing, but in the end the battery stopped working. Now I've got a 16M Tungsten T with a 512M SDCard and I've got basically the same setup as Ricardo - I generally only use PADict though but I've got Dokusya for looking at Japanese text files. I haven't quite got the hang of the in-build flashcard ("hotlist") thing yet though, I still make cardboard flashcards.

Most of my classmates have Wordtanks and the like, but I think our Palm rigs are much better (and possibly cheaper.) When we have translation classes everything is written in Kanji regardless of weather we've learnt them or not, so we've gotta use dictionaries alot, and with this setup you can look them up very fast if you don't know the radical or pronunciation or stroke count or anything - I find it gets the kanji I draw correct at least 95% of the time. Then there's the Stroke Order Diagrams. And of course there's tons of other uses for handhelds... like playing Dopewars during exams ;)

i got a palm zire 72 with dokusha and kanjigym installed, i mostly use it in the train or away from home.

the advantage of such a palm device is that you can also use it for other things, hence i bought it to be able to replay go-games originaly

I have an iPAQ with JWPce installed. I downloaded a hack in order to view and input Japanese characters although this wouldn't have been necessary if I had bought a Japanese model. With the Japanese multibox input method, I write the kanji on the screen and it recognises it 99% of the time.

I am using PADict as a dictionary and Twinkle (twinkle.sourceforge.net) as a flashcard program on Palm (first Treo 300, then Samsung i500, both work fine with a Tungsten E2 too). If I were suggesting a device, I'd recommend something with a keyboard like the Treo, especially for the dictionary, but perhaps for Twinkle too. 16M memory is enough.
High-res screens look better, but 160x160 is perfectly sufficient.
PADict is not really a sufficient solution for E->J, and there are other options available, but I have not tried them.

I can't really imagine anything better than Twinkle for flashcards since with it I can easily convert any spreadsheet (e.g. a list of Heisig cards, there are a few floating around or you can make your own) into a card database whatever way I like. It's far more useful than KingKanji or KanjiGym to me.

I don't get it. The Canon Wordtank V80
is one of the few dictionaries that allows you
to write the kanji with a pen.

So I don't see why it's difficult for you
lookup words that you don't know how
to pronounce. That's what the pen input is for.

Personally, if I could buy one, I'd get a Canon G70,
which also has pen input.

chamcham Wrote:I don't get it. The Canon Wordtank V80
is one of the few dictionaries that allows you
to write the kanji with a pen.

That's one good part about PADict, too (although I often prefer the radical lookup function).

I use my Nintendo DS Lite (US$129.99) and the 漢字そのまま楽引き辞典 (Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten) which you can get for about US$55 from someplace like Lik-Sang.com. Together the two items still cost less than my Wordtank. I have the V80 and I never turn it on anymore because the DS offers a much better experience. Also the DS plays games like 財団法人 日本漢字能力検定協会 公認 漢検DS Zaidanhoujin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kounin: KanKen DS (a soft for prep for Kanji Test), 漢字の渡り鳥 Kanji No Wataridori (a "game" to practice kanji in general that I have never played but seen), and the countless other kanji practice games that I am sure will be released for the DS.

[ファブリス]

That's very cool dilandau! Could you share some links for places where you can order the DS Lite and the games ?

Nintendo has surely struck gold with this educational testing software idea. Too bad it`s so hard to acquire a DS Lite here in Japan.

Yeah, all that Nintendo software sounds awesome, I have had a little go on one program, but I'm not sure what the name was, I was on the train and some guy noticed my flashcards and came over and gave me a go on this game where radicals or parts of kanji were falling down the screen and you had to write the kanji they all made up, even with my shocking handwriting and also being on the train it still recoginized what I wrote. Have any of you guys with PDA's tried that commercial IME for windows mobile called Decuma? I just got a new ipaq and tried it and it's mindblowing, you can write compounds and basically whole sentences and it gives you suggested compounds and all, and it gets it write almost all the time, I'd highly recomend it! I've been trying to put together a file like that palm super dictionary one for pocket pc since people at my school fork out big money for word tanks all the time. Just trying to write a frount end for the e-dict examples database since that's the only thing left that word tanks have over my ipaq. But the JWPce + JFC + Decuma combo is totally amazing. Second question, have any of you guys installed J-OS on Palm Pilot? I'm trying to install it on my palm but wading through the manual for error messages and so on is proving harder than I imagined. I'd be really interested to see how the input methods etc work in that. Only problem with PDA's is they grow on you too fast, I have four now